Fars says documents released by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden provide "incontrovertible proof" that the "secret regime" ruling America was created after extraterrestrials -- referred to as "Tall Whites" -- met in 1954 with U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The article asserts that "Tall Whites" were also behind the rise of Nazi Germany, and it goes on to claim that the aliens are still hell-bent on global domination:

"...[T]he “Tall White” agenda being implemented by the "secret regime" ruling the United States calls for the creation of a global electronic surveillance system meant to hide all true information about their presence here on earth as they enter into what one of Snowden's documents calls the “final phase” of their end plan for total assimilation and world rule."

To drive the point home, Fars has even created a special graphic of U.S. President Barack Obama next to Adolf Hitler against the backdrop of an American flag with a presumed alien life form staring at the reader.

Iranian media have a record of publishing conspiracy theories and satirical reports as serious pieces of information.

In September, Fars published "news" that a Gallup poll found that rural white Americans preferred Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad to Barack Obama.

The origin of the poll was the satirical website "The Onion," but Fars posted it as hard news without crediting the source. The agency later acknowledged its "mistake."

In June, Mehr, another semiofficial Iranian news agency, claimed in a report that Britain's Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, was Jewish. Mehr even alleged that she was secretly baptized so she could marry Prince William, who is second in line to the British throne:

"The truth is that the Royal Family's new bride is a Jew. Although in the wedding ceremony it was pretended that Kate Middleton is Christian but this lady's family roots show that she is considered a Sephardic Jew from her mother's side. Moreover the timing of the wedding and the way it was held which was based on Jewish culture verify the evidences."

In October, Iran's English-language Press TV reposted on its website a report that insinuated that Pakistani education activist Malala Yousefzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban, was actually a fraud. The report was later removed from the website.

In 2010, Press TV aired a documentary produced by state-controlled television that claimed Neda Agha Soltan, a protester who was shot dead during the 2009 postelection crackdown and became an icon of dissent, was an agent of the United States and Britain whose death was staged.

Iranian state TV is known for airing unfounded accusations against political activists. The outlet has also aired forced confessions by activists over the years.

-- Golnaz Esfandiari

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Persian Letters is a blog that offers a window into Iranian politics and society. Written primarily by Golnaz Esfandiari, Persian Letters brings you under-reported stories, insight and analysis, as well as guest Iranian bloggers -- from clerics, anarchists, feminists, Basij members, to bus drivers. Follow @GEsfandiari